Wednesday September 25, Beaune

Beaune is the wine capital of Burgundy, but we didn't see any wine making. Instead, we visited the local Hotel Dieu (hotel of God) which is basically what they used to call hospice facilities in the middle ages.

In the courtyard of the Hotel Dieu, originally constructed in 1443 during the reign of Philip the Good:

Inside the patient room for the poor. They received the best care and treatment available at the time:

This is the patient room for the wealthy. They had paintings--all bible scenes--covering most of the walls so the patients would have plenty to look at and think about while lying in bed:

One of the pieces of art, no longer in a patient room, was this amazing triptych of (central panel) Jesus up top and St. Michael below judging souls. Way off on the left are the people who got to go into heaven (a golden church is depicted) and on the right are those going to hell. I could really imagine the ill and dying people staring at this piece of art day after day and how it must have affected them. The painting was created by Rogier van der Weyden between 1445 and 1450 (more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Judgment_(Rogier_van_der_Weyden):

Back out in the courtyard:

Jill happy to find Viber messages from both Katherine and Lindsay!